1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved vacuumizer assembly of the type used in conjunction with food-handling pumps in order to deaerate meat or emulsion products. More particularly, it is concerned with such vacuumizer having an adjustable valve unit equipped with adjustment structure for the valve unit which can be manipulated from the exterior of the vacuumizer. In this fashion, the stroke length of the valve may be varied without the necessity of opening the vacuumizer itself.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of vacuumizing equipment has been proposed in the past for purposes of deaerating products being handled and packaged. For example, in the production of emulsion-type meat products (e.g., bologna) it is common to subject the meat emulsion to a vacuumizing step to eliminate or at least minimize the occurrence of voids in the final product. In one specific embodiment of such equipment, sold by Marlen Research Corporation of Overland Park, Kans., a Marlen twin piston pump is equipped with a large vacuumizer coupled to the inlet of the pump. This vacuumizer is equipped with a valve at the inlet thereof, which is opened and closed as necessary to permit entrance of emulsion into the vacuumizing chamber. During bologna production, incoming emulsion is first fed through the inlet to the vacuumizer chamber for deaeration, whereupon it is pumped to filling and packaging equipment. In order to produce satisfactory final product, it has been found that the vacuumizer inlet valve must be operated with a very small clearance opening so that the emulsion is subjected to the most intense deaeration. However, the precise adjustment of the inlet valve clearance can vary depending upon product formulation and other factors. Accordingly, it is often necessary to adjust the inlet valve during production to achieve the desired results.
In other types of products, such as whole muscle ham pieces or the like, the vacuumizer inlet valve must be adjusted to give a significantly greater clearance opening. Here again though, the optimum clearance opening is normally a matter of experimentation, requiring several valve adjustments to determine.
In the use of the Marlen vacuumizers described above, it is necessary to open the vacuumizer chamber itself in order to effect inlet valve adjustment. This is a time consuming task, particularly when it is considered that multiple, relative small adjustments must be made to the valve in order to achieve acceptable performance. There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved vacuumizer valve assembly which can be readily adjusted from outside the vacuumizer chamber, thus eliminating the need to open the chamber during each valve adjustment.